During the Summer of 2006, I was residing in Atlanta, Georgia, training to become what is commonly referred to as a Stock Broker, but what is officially termed a 'general securities registered representative.' Nevertheless, long before applying with the broker-dealer I was pursuing a license through, whom I'lI further expose at a later date, I began a rigorous routine study regimen in preparation for the series six, six three, and series seven exams, administered through the National Association Of Securities Dealers (NASD) which is an extension of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), that is, in essence, a financial market regulatory arm of the Federal Reserve System. It was not uncommon to see individuals, who made it through the training, go on to earn upwards of fifteen thousand dollars per month within weeks of completing their training, and that was on the low end of the financial services sector! An overwhelming majority of my peers-in-training came from well to do backgrounds, and, upon seeing the enormous amounts of money they were earning and spending, D'Evils kicked in and what immediately came to mind was a chorus/title song from Jay Z's album Reasonable Doubt, "Can I Live?"

'Coming Of Age' in the environments I grew up in, the only people making that kind of money were drug dealers, so having an opportunity to earn similar amounts of money, and much much more, legally and lawfully, had me thinking one thing: 'It's time to come up!'

But the truth is, I was perplexed...torn between two seemingly irreconcilable passions...to make money, lots and lots of it, but to do so in a way that was honorable and upright! "For the first time in my life I was getting money, but it was like my conscious was eating me." S.C. 'I can't lie,' there was a spell in my life where I was lured by the trappings of fast money and the fast life, but it was during those periods of time that even though money wasn't an issue, spiritually, life for me was unnecessarily difficult. "Even Righteous minds go through this." S.C.

Street Smarts...

The first thing I immediately took note of during my training was how much the operation of the 'stock market 'resembled the organized drug cartel's illicit distribution of illegal narcotics; particularly how it played out in my native Newark, New Jersey neighborhood and others similar to it.

For instance, in the 'dope game' there's a business process called 'the flip.' The hustler/dealer has to 'flip' his or her money in order to realize a profit! He/She has to use the money that is at his/her disposal to buy as much of a marketable product as he/she can for as low a price as he/she can find and successfully transact through. Usually, in order to get the most out of the deal, trade, or investment, that person will sell that product for as high a price as he or she can sell it for, called a mark up, resulting in a profit!

Ultimately, this strategic business approach is employed by buying low and selling high! There are many many ways to earn a profit in just one flip or trade, but the most basic of which is to buy low and sell high! Learn More Here!

Likewise, banks and financial institutions have their own version of a flip and it's called an initial public offering (IPO). The first people and/or institutions to be included in an IPO pays a rockbottom price for a new issue of shares while the general customer, you, must pay the public offering price (POP), which is always many many times higher than the price of the IPO which oftentimes rises and falls shortly thereafter; note: long before the price of the shares have fallen, the people, and financial institutions that were in on the IPO will have sold their shares to the public at a several hundred percent return on investment (ROI) for themselves! That's what I call getting over! But you can't knock the hustle!

Rule No. 1

"It works both ways; so when there are losers there are always winners and vice-versa! The key thing to remember here is that your position in the market is either your 'friend or foe,' and if you're not going to learn how the game is played and play the game to win, then you 'gotta learn to live with Regrets.' "

In other words, what most people fail to appreciate is that the same system always works in reverse!

For example, when the 'stock market' tanked in 2008, I was a Guest Teacher in the Norfolk Public Schools and I remember overhearing a co-worker lamenting on how she had lost nearly 50% of her retirement savings from her 403B overnight, literally: The nest egg that she'd taken decades to save was split in half within twenty-four hours! BUT, her loss was someone else's gain! This is the essence of capitalism or a 'free market system'...a zero sum game!

Knowing what I knew, I couldn't help but think about how her money didn't disappear; it simply changed hands; because money, just like energy, never dies...it only changes form!

In business and financial markets, profits can be made from prices moving up or down! When a profit is made by the price of stock(s) moving down it was earned by 'shorting' the stock! Shorting is basically a gamble that the price of a stock will fall relative to it's value at the moment it was purchased, in which case, the lower the price of a stock that has been shorted falls relative to the price at which it was purchased, the greater the unrealized gain or potential profit: the strategy here is to buy high and sell low! One who benefits from the price of stock falling, who is shorting stock, who has bought high to sell low, is considered to be short or bearish, and one who has bought low to sell high is considered long, or bullish.

Recent History

Therefore, when the so called housing bubble burst, and the stock market plunged, the people who were bearish, shorting the market, made off like fat cats, while those who were long the market, who were eight out of ten people, were pushed to, and in some cases, well beyond insolvency...bankrupted! Anyone with the smallest amount of market perception could've seen that 13,000 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was far too high, but money was everywhere and people were caught up in the euphoria...'Feeling It,' yet even today, a great majority of people have poor financial intelligence, so they weren't, and still aren't, aware of the financial options available to them. Learn More Here The masses who worked and earned wages, or was having contributions made to a(n) 401k, Roth IRA, IRA, Annuity, Pensions, Insurances etc...anyone whose assets were tied to mortgages, equities(stocks), debts(bonds), all of them felt and are still feeling the adverse effects of the market collapsing! Exactly how did a relatively small group of people quintuple their financial worth during the stock market crash? By the effective use of compounded interest and a seldom referenced term called hypothecation!

Hypothecation allows you to leverage up to 140% of the value of your stock deposited with a broker-dealer or commercial bank! So, not only were the people and financial institutions in the know shorting the market, they were also hypothecating funds borrowed from banks to short the market even further. In other words, they were borrowing on top of borrowed money, betting on the market to fall thereby doubling and tripling their worth while a majority of working class people lost everything they'd labored their entire lives to accumulate!

Finally, to add insult to injury, the same people who grew insanely rich while the world markets were bottoming out, stepped back into the market, and, using funds from the seven hundred trillion dollar government bailout, again bought up everything they could get their hands on at prices that hadn't reached levels that low since the Great Depression! Why? All for the love of Dead Presidents! Again, there were many losers, but there were also big, BIG WINNERS!

Here's the kicker, not only has this same scenario been repeating itself to one degree or another every ten years or so for nearly a century, it's about to happen again in the very very near future; call it Politics As Usual! The only question becomes whether or not you're going to put yourself in a position to lose, or in a position to win.

Guidance

Since opportunity rewards the prepared and awareness eliminates ignorance, my mentality is 'Bring It On!'

Here's what The Intelligent Brother, a fellow Genius Citizen recommends:

1. Invest in yourself! Take a good look around you...the world is changing and will no longer be what it once was! Your greatest asset is having a clear and resolute understanding of what you are on this Earth to do! That means having the greatest degree of self awareness possible! Know Your Self! A classic book that'll help get you on the right track is Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill For those desiring a more in depth study of the science of spirituality this may be for you. Get more in tune with yourself and build a stronger relationship between you and your God-Concept! Learn the skills necessary to enhance your intellectual, emotional, and financial IQ! Invest in your health as well! What good is life if your not healthy enough to enjoy it? With so many enemies to universal healthcare reform, the rising costs of insurance, medicines, and treatments, as well as genetically modified foods, now more than ever it's imperative to practice prevention and that begins with what you eat! A must have in your home is the miracle plant called Moringa.

2. Get Your Money Right! In this global economy, one income is simply not going to cut it! To survive and thrive, you're going to need multiple streams of revenue! Especially if you're a parent, or just a person wanting much more out of life than a tombstone with your name on it, you need to treat your education like a life long process by continuing to learn in order to remain competitive and by turning your skills, talents, and abilities into products, goods, and services! Read More Here 1000 Streams

3. Get from around the people who do not have the attributes and characteristics of the people who are where you aspire to be! If you're surrounded by crabs in a barrel then you're going nowhere fast! As the saying goes, 'birds of a feather flock together.' Your peers should celebrate you, encourage you, and support you, not the other way around. Learn about your Strategy & Design here....Success in life is all about flow and what better way is there to get things to flow than by knowing your own Strategy and Design and using them together as a guide to fulfilling your greatest unique expression?

I bid you adieu with a few quotes from one of Brooklyn's Finest, Jackie Robinson

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life." Jackie Robinson

"The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time." Jackie Robinson

"There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free." Jackie Robinson

Brian Holiday-El aka The Intelligent Brother, is currently accepting invitations for public speaking engagements, small business consultation, and mentoring.

2 comments:

WOW, Brian! VERY NICE and CREATIVELY Done. This is a GREAT & Innovative way to provide this type of financial education especially for our people, although NOT limited to that. For those of us that grew up in the "hood", the picture you painted, same as like as....immediately resonated and I am sure will with others too!!!

Financial Literacy is something we could really benefit from, and come out of the :under the mattress the market is the devil stuff....the important thing to do is be informed, educated, have trusted, financial advisors or advice from people with integrity, for a basic understanding along WITH ALL THE GREAT JEWELS you provided here...

I Appreciate the BOOKS as WELL...LOVE READINGSTAY STRIVING & KEEP RISING!! You are TRULY One of a KINDPeace~!~Sit~!~

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Words Create Worlds!

"Think BEFORE you speak! The only difference between {words} and {worlds} is one letter. Actions done, Time spent, and Words spoken, serve as builders of the quality of life we experience as being either good or bad, heavenly or hellish. They can be neither replaced nor called back, and we are powerless in changing that! Whenever in Doubt, and to prevent unnecessary Resistance & Confusion, PAUSE FOR THE CAUSE!"~TiB!

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"Man knows not by being told."

Noble Drew Ali

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"We are the Waterfall, but we forgot we are the Waterfall, and now we think we're the water falling."

B.Holi

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"All makind is divided into three classes: those that are

immovable, those that are movable, and those that move."

Benjamin Franklin

Choose your Battles wisely

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, by heaven or hell."

Buddha

Divine Law

"The only thing constant in the world is CHANGE."

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"Science of to-day---the superstition of to-morrow. Science of to-morrow---the superstition of to-day."

Charles Fort

Mayan Thought

'The world of illusion begins from the eyes outward, Reality begins from the eyes inward.'

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"And there shall be signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars, and upon the Earth distress of nations..."

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And God said let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." Gen. 1:14